An Instagram account is nearly ready for character designs to be seen. - Duma
Witholding the urge to call 'Wheeeeee!', Skywarp managed his seventeenth spin on the spinny chair and watched his comrades whizz past his vision in a rainbow hue of colour.
"What's that noise? What is that?" a mournful voice spoke from across the room, somewhere in among the colourful blur that Skywarp was seeing.
Thundercracker, standing to the side of a berth, cocked an eyebrow at the black and purple jet spinning around. "It's Skywarp being a childish idiot again," he replied and then took in the pitiful scene in front of him.
Lounging on the berth, one elegant leg hanging off the side and the other thrown over an arm rest, looking like an absolute queen, Starscream had one arm draped over his face while his other hung off the side and was being tended to by another Seeker.
"I'm so jumpy," the Alpha Seeker moaned, "My poor nerves. I don't know how long I can go on."
At the other end of the berth stood Thrust, leaning against the wall. "You don't think you're overmilking this a little?" he asked.
"How dare you?" Starscream hissed, glaring at him under his arm, "How dare- Have you ANY idea on what I've been through? Are you or are you not aware of what I've had to endure?"
"Believe me, Starscream, we know."
"I've taken a fusion canon to the spark! You'll forgive me for wanting to battle death, won't you?"
"Megatron shot you a whole earth week ago and we've nearly fixed you. Stop being dramatic," Ramjet scoffed, flicking through his 'Military Jets Magazine' casually from his seat on the sofa.
Starscream twisted his face into a pained expression and threw back his helm against the berth. "None of you understand my curse," he wailed.
When the Seekers had been sparked, a terrible attack had occurred on the Nursery Well which had 'spooked' the AllSpark, for want of a better word.
Some of the new-born Seeker Sparklings, I am sorry to say, hadn't made it but the rest of that generation that had survived had come away with curious mutations and, of them all, Starscream's mutation was the most astonishing for he had thus been born with an indestructible, immortal spark which could not, would not, be extinguished.
"Primus help us," Ramjet whimpered, burying himself into the magazine. They then all felt a warm, uncomfortable presence as a golden Seeker stepped in front of them all.
"Now, now, brothers," he chastised with a smile and a soft voice, holding his hands together, "Spare our poor Commander a little sympathy. He bears such a heavy load." His 'gentle' words did not seem wanted by any of them, least of all Starscream.
"Get away from me Sunstorm," he groaned as the radioactive flier knelt down at his feet, "When did you last take a flight?"
"This morning," Sunstorm replied smoothly, keeping his soft red optics fixed on his leader's uncomfortable face.
"Take another, why don't you?" Starscream then glanced to his other hand which was in the care of the Seeker, Hotlink. "Are you finished yet?" he asked.
Hotlink was manicuring Starscream's talons and, with a final brush of the file, he straightened up and nodded. Starscream pulled back his right hand and, after briefly inspecting his sharp claws, placed them carefully over his cockpit.
"Why is life so trying?" he sighed, lifting his left arm from his face and hoisting himself up into a sitting position. He was currently in his own quarters which, being the quarters of the First Lieutenant, meant that the room was very large and was able to accommodate up to sixteen other Seekers who were all standing or sitting around, attending to their 'injured' leader.
Thundercracker was stood at Starscream's right hand side, trying to perch his backside on the head of the berth, Skywarp was still spinning around in Starscream's chair like a wretched child and was trying to hit Red Wing with his legs, Red Wing was sitting patiently while Nacelle was 'grooming' his wings, Dirge was browsing Starscream's shelves for something to read and eventually settled for 'The Life Cycle of the Amazonian Swallow' before sitting on the long sofa lounge next to Ramjet, still reading his magazine, Thrust was still leaning against the wall and was counting the squares on the ceiling, Acid Storm and Nova Storm were in the corner playing a game of 'Go Fish' while Ion Storm was trying to stack a pile of Hotlink's screwdrivers, Hotlink was still sat on the floor from having recently tended to Starscream's sharp fingers and Wheezing Arrow, the runt of the flock, was sitting quietly on the far side of the room, trying not to draw attention to himself.
"You want me to go get you some energon?" Skywarp offered, spinning one last time in the chair.
Starscream waved a claw at him. "No, don't bother," he groaned and then swept the room. "Where is Slipstream?" he asked, "She's been gone too long. Where is-? Oh, there you are."
A second after he had said that, Slipstream walked in with a sour expression on her face. She threw the component she was carrying to Hotlink.
"Here," she huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "Now you can finally stop acting like a war hero and get up off your lazy thrusters." Nacelle moved away from Red Wing to help Hotlink in repairing the final part in Starscream's systems and their leader could not have looked more pleased.
"You're too kind, Slipstream," he said knowing full well that the Seeker femme would be glaring at him. Just as Starscream was demurely getting to his feet once he was completely repaired, his doors tinged to signify an entrance and in came Sunstorm again.
Once getting his leader's attention, he lowered his wings as he respectfully bowed. "Deepest apologies, Starscream but I have grave news," he began.
"Now what?" Starscream rolled his eyes and batted away Thundercracker who had offered an assisting servo. Before Sunstorm could deliver his report, Thrust suddenly gave a cackle.
"Megatron is healthier than ever and looks to keep his Decepticon throne for another few million years!" he announced with glee, finding great delight in Starscream's thunderous glare directed at him.
"Spit it out, Sunstorm," the Head Seeker hissed, trying to ignore Thrust's little joke.
Sunstorm gave Thrust a brief look of amusement before announcing the news, "All aerial activity has been frozen temporarily."
For a second, there was silence.
Then all hell broke loose as every Seeker jumped to their feet, flustering and shouting, each one having something to say and letting their wings flutter in agitation as they did so.
"What!?" Skywarp screeched.
"That's ridiculous!" Ramjet fumed, "We're not allowed to fly?"
"What are we expected to do all day?" Hotlink cried.
"Are you sure you've got it right, Sunstorm?" Red Wing asked desperately.
"I'm afraid so," Sunstorm had answered, "Megatron spoke to me directly on my way to go and 'take a flight' as Starscream suggested I do."
"Did you get a reason why we're not allowed to fly?" asked Thrust to which Sunstorm shook his head.
"Well that's just great!" Skywarp came in with another comment, "What's going to happen to us? Scream? You'll do your thing, right? Take one for the team and get all up in Megatron's face, eh?"
"Demand that we be allowed to fly!" Nova Storm agreed.
"Does... Does Megatron know that we need to fly?" whimpered Arrow.
Skywarp was getting twitchy by Starscream's lack of response. "Starscream!"
"Yes, Starscream," Dirge drawled, "you'll do something about this won't you?"
"Something better be done! We have rights!" shouted Acid Storm.
"Yeah!" Bitstream nodded and lifted his fist, "And if we can't have access to basic flight then every land-crawling Decepticon on this ship is going to be feeling it, I swear!"
"Now just calm it down for a moment..." Thundercracker tried to say with an uncomfortable tone of voice.
"Calm it down?" Slipstream snapped, "You ARE aware of what a lack of flight does to a Seeker don't you?"
"A pity that the Nemesis hasn't the facilities to allow safe flying practice," Nacelle lamented.
"Of course not!" Ion Storm grumbled, "No-one bothered to think that Trypticon might need to transport Seekers when he was rewired into the Nemesis."
"Oh for the love of Primus, BE QUIET!" Starscream suddenly, well, screamed.
True to his name, a scream from Starscream was his primary form of communication for it could either totally silence his Seekers or it could trigger an instinctual need for them to congregate to him for whatever reason. Once silence had been achieved, Starscream attempted to put on a calm demeanour.
"I'm trying to process my thoughts," he said softly. A soft voice from Starscream never boded well. "Right," he decided, lifting his chest and extending his magnificent wings to a lofty 'I'm the alpha Seeker and you all know it' position, "Everyone out of my way! I'll be back momentarily."
Strutting down the corridors and sending nervous Decepticon troopers running off in all directions, Starscream made his way to the Nemesis bridge and stepped through the doors with all the grace of an atristocratic debutante.
"My lord?" he called cautiously and, upon catching sight of the intimidating warlord who, a week ago, had shot a hole through his chest, composed himself and approached, "Ah, my lord! Might I trouble you for a moment of your time?"
Megatron, the ex-gladiator, peered through his red optics at his Second-in-Command. "What is it Starscream?" he snarled, almost anticipating one of Starscream's claws to come whizzing through the air towards his throat, "I see you've recovered from your injuries. Back for another bout?"
"Lord Megatron," Starscream smiled sickly and bowed with a sweep of his arm, "Sunstorm has just come to me with some troubling news."
"He isn't going to sacrifice you to Primus, is he?" Megatron smiled and then threw back his head and laughed loudly into the air, "I've already prebooked a ticket for that."
"Uh... No, my lord," Starscream 'coughed', "It's about a supposed freeze on all aerial-"
"Ah yes." Megatron wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Tell your Seekers that there will be no flights outside the Nemesis. You have the Autobots to thank for that; they've increased their atmospheric surveillance and if you're seen coming to and fro from the Nemesis, they'll discover the entrances to our base."
Although the fortress was something of an eyesore and absolutely impossible to miss even for the visually impaired, the Decepticons had been able to keep the location of their 'front door' a secret from the Autobots.
Starscream's eye twitched and he opened and shut his mouth in confusion. "But... But my lord," he stammered, "we have an entire Decepticon battalion under our -er- your command in ou- YOUR fortress. The Autobots are scattered in meagre handfuls around the world."
"It does NOT mean that they are unable to throw a decent army together from the remote corners of this wretched planet," Megatron replied, a cross look now appearing on his face, "Prime has been known to produce warriors out of nothing." He shook his head. "You mark my words, Starscream - flutter just one wing out there and you'll have Prime, his Autobots, Dinobots, a few Predacons, the entire Iacon Academy, Velocitronians, Junkions, humans, the 13 Original Primes and probably Unicron Himself descending on you."
"Erm... I presume then, we would be allowed to access the flight training facilities in the fortress below us?"
"Air Command stays in the air, Starscream. Clue in the name. You and your Seekers belong in the Nemesis, in the sky, with me, at the very top. We took a vote at the Officer's meeting."
Starscream frowned. "I do not recall a vote being taken at the last meeting," he mumbled.
"No, this was a vote taken at an Officer's meeting centuries ago back on Cybertron," Megatron told him, turning his attention back to his busy bridge workers around him.
Starscream twirled a thumb digit around his forefinger digit and his wings flicked. "...So how do we fly?"
"Well... you don't. I would have thought that was simple."
"...So how do we keep from going mad?"
"Don't know," Megatron shrugged, "Take up a new hobby or something. You'll figure it out."
"When?" Starscream snapped angrily, "Now? Or after our processors fry up?"
"You can stow that tone of voice, Starscream," Megatron growled at him, "It won't be long before it's safe outside again and anyway, Shockwave's decorating a new room for your Seekers to fly in. Be sure to write him a 'thank you' card, won't you?"
Pouting as much as a metal robot could, Starscream turned on his thruster heel and left the bridge in a perfect sulk, muttering as he went.
Leaning on his arm, Optimus half-heartedly clicked through his most recent reports from the base camps of the other Autobot teams.
"Perceptor... No news," he sighed, "Prowl... No news. Silverbolt... No news. Grimlock... 'Ate a moped. Tasted gross.' ... Hot Rod... No news. Wheeljack... No news."
"Whatcha doing, Sir?" Peeking over the edge of the desk was Bumblebee's face.
"Just checking in with the teams to see if they have any updates for me," Optimus replied with a fond smile. It wouldn't be long before Bumblebee was bigger and more grown up but, deep down, the Prime liked to think he'd stay cute.
"And do they?" his scout asked.
"Only that Grimlock ate a moped. The Decepticons seem to be keeping low profiles at the moment."
"So are you bored?"
"No, there's always something to do, Bumblebee. Like right now, what are you doing?"
Bumblebee took a step back and, after a moment of thought, straightened his back and looked important. "...Um... I am, er, awaiting orders, Optimus Prime, Sir!" he said in a 'tough' 'grown-up' voice.
Optimus smirked. "So you're not doing anything."
"I'm awaiting orders, Sir."
"For what?"
Bumblebee's thinking face was a rather comical one. "...Truth be told, Sir," he answered, "I don't have an answer to that."
"Go on, you young scamp," Optimus laughed as he turned back to Teletraan-1, "Go play or something."
"With what?"
"Nothing belonging to Ratchet."
"Can you give me a mission?"
"What?" Optimus lifted an eyebrow as he gazed down at Bumblebee, "Give you-? What do you mean?"
"A mission," Bumblebee repeated, his doorwings rising excitedly, "Can I be sent on a mission?"
"To do what, exactly?"
"To scout."
"Scout what?"
The same comical face reappeared on the smaller bot's face. "...Truth be told, Sir, I don't have an answer to that either. But please can I have a mission?" The yellow scout was getting dangerously close to the 'big round innocent blue optic' face that Optimus loved and hated at the same time.
"Bumblebee," he said, "that's not how missions work. You need an objective."
"I think there's been Decepticon activity down by the lake, Sir," Bumblebee immediately replied, smiling at the swiftness of his answer.
"That so?" Optimus hummed, "And what makes you think that?"
"Scout intuition, Sir."
"Do you know what intuition means?"
"No Sir, but Ironhide tells me to use it a lot when I'm training so I'm going to use it now. Permission to use Scout Intuition and investigate Decepticon activity, Optimus Prime, Sir."
Optimus sighed. Bumblebee just wanted to go for a drive.
Bots his age had boundless energy but there were not many his age to spend that energy with. In fact, aboard the Ark there was no-one his age.
"Go on then," he murmured, "But you know the rules!"
"'Keep a low profile'," Bumblebee read off an imaginary list, "'Look after the environment. No explosions. Don't go near Decepticons. Be back in 1 hour.'"
"And Bumblebee?" Optimus voice stopped the little scout before he could dart out of the command centre. "Don't even think about bringing home any more humans. You leave them alone, understand?"
Bumblebee faltered on one leg and peered over his shoulder cheekily. "What if I see a really cute one?" he asked.
"You've already adopted three of the poor things!" Optimus said with a shake of his head, "That's three too many in Ratchet's opinion."
"But I look after them real good!"
"It doesn't matter. Earth is their planet and you really ought to leave them where you find them."
"What if one follows me back? Can I keep it then?"
"No, Bumblebee," Optimus Prime said in a stern tone of voice, "No more humans."
"Aw scr-... Um... Okay."
With a triumphant flash of his visor, Jazz secured the highest place score and thus the scoreboard on the Autobot's favourite game now went as followed:
JZZ -574
BEE - 571
BEE -569
JZZ - 520
BEE - 518
JZZ - 505
INH - 472
BEE - 469
JZZ - 423
BEE - 417
It was a slight victory by a mere 3 points but it was a victory nonetheless, even if that victory was over a bot a couple million years younger than him.
Upon hearing the tell-tale patter of little pedes, Jazz decided he'd leave the scoreboard and not say anything to Bumblebee about his accomplishment just yet. It wouldn't be long before the little yellow spark discovered his knock from 1st place and consequently his drive to regain his place at top of the leader board and then it would only be a matter of time before Ironhide's lone score of 472 was dropped off altogether.
"Yo, Bee," Jazz called over his shoulder as he heard him come in, "How'd that Con activity go, eh?"
Bumblebee had scampered all the way across the room towards his room before being forced to stop and make conversation. "Oh..." he replied, somewhat distractedly, "No Decepticons."
"Uh-huh," Jazz chuckled, not having to look to see where the kid was for he could hear his hurried steps well enough, "Lemme guess - you wanted to go stretch your wheels for a bit, right? You know, kid, you could'a just asked OP that in the first place."
"Mm-hmm. Sorry, Jazz," Bumblebee mumbled quietly, not really paying attention.
"Why ya apologising, kid? Go on and have fun," Jazz smiled before a sudden thought came to him and he called back to Bumblebee again with a note of suspicion in his voice, "...You didn't bring home a human, did you?"
"Huh?" Bumblebee squeaked nervously, only a step away from making a bolt for his room.
"I said," Jazz repeated calmly, not looking at the bot, "you didn't bring home any humans, did ya?"
There was a rather unnecessarily long pause.
Bumblebee shuffled from foot to foot. "...Optimus didn't order me not to."
Jazz groaned into his hands and finally turned around to eye the little Autobot closely. He was stood with his chubby legs close together, his hands folded protectively over his chest under his chin and his miniature doorwings drooping low in submission.
"...Bee, you've got three," Jazz told him, repeating the same thing that he and other Autobots had to continually remind him of, "Take it back."
"But Jaaaaazz, I can't!" Bumblebee whined, hurrying forward and stretching out his hands, "Look! Look at him! He's so small!"
In Bumblebee's palms was an absolutely tiny human boy.
Jazz reasoned it had to be very young judging by the human's shorter limbs in comparison with its torso and his large eyes - which wore glasses. The boy had thick brown hair and a round face, tanned skin and a light smattering of freckles on its nose; a very handsome specimen in the eyes of biological science.
But Jazz wasn't exactly the top Autobot scientist around and all he saw was a fleshling no larger than Bumblebee's hand staring up at him, unblinking, gripping Bumblebee's fingers desperately. He did look to be a sweet little thing but judging by his clothes and shoes, he wasn't faring badly in life.
"Humans are incredibly resilient, Bee, he'll be just fine back where he belongs in the wild. Now take it back."
"But he's so cute!" Bumblebee pulled the human close to him and petted him on the head. The human looked up at him in confusion, not pulling away but refusing to let go of his captor's finger.
"You can't bring home everything that happens to be cute, Bee," Jazz told him and immediately thought back to Optimus who had done just that too once upon a time. The living proof of that was stood in front of him, following in the Prime's footsteps.
"I'll look after him like I look after the others," Bumblebee promised, widening his optics to impossibly large sizes, "Please! Please don't tell on me! I called him Rafael. Isn't he cute?"
"He's adorable. And absolutely terrified. Where'd you get him?"
"Found him by the lake. I saved him!"
"You'll do him a favour if you take him back."
"But Jaaaaazz..." Bumblebee whined again and, at that point, Jazz caved in.
"Oh whatever, fine!" he relented, not wishing to argue with Optimus' kid anymore, "Pretend I never saw him and don't go telling the others, y'hear? Or I'll smack yer pedes."
"Thanks Jazz, you're the best!" Bumblebee beamed, cradling his new human and skipping away.
"Sure am," Jazz agreed and stared a new game on the computer.